WEARING: Shopbop Lulu Polka Dot Dress | Tuckernuck Kaitlin Earrings | Jeffrey Campbell Boots (Similar Here, Here, & Here) | Tuckernuck Tortoise Clutch
October 19, 2018:
Happy Monday friends!!
Today I’m FINALLY sharing our engagement story with you, and I’m so excited! (better late than never, right?) I made sure to take notes the day that everything happened, because I didn’t want to forget a single thing or moment from this special morning in New York with my love. Scroll through to read what happened on our special day, how Nathan totally caught me off guard, and why it will now be officially documented how oblivious I can be. 😂
The day that Nathan and I got engaged started out, not quite like every other day. For starters, on this particular day we were waking up in New York. We had arrived in the city two days before on Wednesday, October 17th, and it was my first time being back in NYC since I had moved to Austin. I had been looking forward to this trip for months since we booked our flights, and was so happy to be back. I was so excited to visit friends in the city, walk through my old neighborhood, eat at some of my favorite spots, and visit a few of my must-shop stores. It was in every sense a “reunion trip” with my former home and I was beyond thrilled. 🚕
A few months before:
As soon as we booked our flights to NYC, I started making plans for everything that I wanted us to do while we were in the city. I contacted my sweet friend Lauren to let her know that we’d be there in October, and I immediately planned a “reunion photoshoot” with her. It had been sooo long since we last shot together! Lauren was my main photographer in New York during the two years that I lived there, and I just knew I HAD to plan something with her during my visit. She took so many special photos for me during my time in NYC, including 1 year anniversary photos for Nathan and I back in 2017. Speaking of Nathan… he knew that I had a shoot planned with Lauren, but never said anything else about it after I briefly mentioned it in passing one day. I was just like “Oh, by the way I have to be up early one morning to see Lauren for a shoot!” Clearly he made note of it though!! 😉
Morning Of:
I woke up extra early the morning of Friday, October 19th to get ready for my shoot, and told Nathan he could sleep in if he wanted to and that I would meet back up with him after the shoot. He said that sounded great and he could use a little more rest, BUT at the last minute decided he would come with me so that we could explore the city together afterwards. I of course, thought this was a great idea. (this totally threw me off!)
Side Note: One of my favorite spots in the city has always been Washington Square Park, simply because it reminds me of Paris with it’s beautiful arch based off none other than the Arc de Triomphe. Not to mention the fact that it serves as a central point between the Lower East Side, SoHo, and the West Village… it’s such a perfect spot in the city for people watching and city strolling. Mix in the sounds of musicians, the colorful and fun street art, the nostalgic, romantic vibes, and it makes it one of the best locations in NYC to spend part of the morning or afternoon in. The perfect New York backdrop… Which is why I woke up extra early to shoot here with Lauren that day!! 🤗
Back to us:
Nathan and I took a Lyft to the park that morning, and grabbed a quick coffee☕️ at Le Pain Quotidien before meeting Lauren at the arch. I had three different looks to shoot, and was already dressed in the outfit that you see in the photos above and below. Once I spotted Lauren and we said our hellos, she mentioned that it was too busy to shoot near the arch because they were filming some sort of movie or tv show and it had become a little crowded. She decided to move me over to one of the side-streets instead to take more photos of my dress.
Side Note: Nathan has accompanied me before on numerous photo shoots (because he’s a dream and the sweetest most patient man on earth), so I literally didn’t think twice about him joining in on this one. It wasn’t until after everything happened that I realized he had dressed up for it too!! I’m sooo oblivious sometimes, and couldn’t believe I didn’t notice he was wearing dress shoes. (talk about worst girlfriend award LOL.) I was just so anxious to get out the door that morning, and was semi getting ready in the Lyft on the way over that I didn’t even realize what he was doing on his end! 😂
While we were snapping photos in my polka dot dress, Lauren asked me what my other looks were and whether or not this was my most extravagant outfit. I told her that my other outfits were really just cute fall looks🍂, and she immediately suggested that we head back over to the arch to take some more photos! (Inside I was like YESSS! I really wanted to get this dress in front of the arch, so I was totally on board to dodge a few of the film crew to get some great shots!!📸 Little did I know there was a different plan…)
Luckily by the time we headed back, there really wasn’t any filming happening anymore, and we surprisingly had most of the arch all to ourselves. (for New York standards, this NEVER HAPPENS. It was a miracle!) It was at this point that I started getting a little suspicious, or confused really. Lauren started coming up close to me, fixing my hair, checking my makeup, and adjusting my dress. The entire time in my mind I was like “Lauren, what are you doing? You never do this. I must have been too tired this morning to properly do my makeup… do I look that bad?🤦🏻♀️ LOL. So many thoughts.” I didn’t know she was trying to hide what Nathan was doing behind her though!!!
It wasn’t until after she stepped aside that I saw Nathan right there and realized “something is happening”… he’s walking towards me…he’s in front of me… he’s starting to kneel down… I knew exactly what was going on.😱 I looked over at Lauren who’s face COMPLETELY gave it away, looked back at Nathan and totally lost it. I don’t think I even let him get a full sentence in before saying “YES, I’LL MARRY YOU!!” It was all a complete and wonderful blur. Everything Nathan was saying was honestly a total blur because I was trying so hard to process it all. I felt like I was dreaming. 😂 I couldn’t believe what was happening. He was proposing and I was losing my sh*t. In the middle of Washington Square Park, in the middle of Manhattan, in my favorite city🗽, while a homeless man walked around the fountain near us holding a “free hugs” sign. It was New York perfection.
Scroll through to see how everything unfolded…
I’m so grateful to Nathan and Lauren for teaming up on such a perfect proposal. To Lauren for taking all of these photos and capturing this moment so wonderfully and to Nathan, my sweet love, for totally and completely catching me off guard by surprising me in this way.❤️ With one of my dearest friends capturing images, and in one of my absolute favorite spots in New York City. I’ll remember this moment for the rest of my life. (P.S. – Little did I know that Nathan and Lauren had been texting the entire time before all of this went down. They are so sneaky! They had been exchanging texts that morning, and were giving each other cues the day of! Like, “when I start adjusting her hair, that’s when you go…”)
This moment honestly couldn’t have been more perfect, and I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t see it coming. 💕
The rest of that morning was filled with happy and excited tears😭… Lauren spent another hour with us and walked us over to the West Village (my favorite neighborhood) to take a few engagement photos. 📷(sharing those on here soon!!) We slow danced on one of my favorite streets, and soaked up every second of what had just happened. As if that wasn’t enough, Nathan and I spent the remainder of the afternoon visiting some of our favorite spots in the city. It was so romantic and so perfect.
We had a celebratory meal at Eataly – our very first “date spot” together. For those of you that might not know, Nathan and I started dating long distance while he was living in Amarillo, Texas and during my last year in NYC. When he visited the city for the first time I took him to Eataly, one of my favorite spots in the city, and the setting of our very first date as a couple. We ate entirely too much pasta that night, and drank way too much rosé (I threw up at my old office! Oops!). So naturally, we knew this had to be our celebratory spot as a newly engaged couple!! 😂🍾🥂
After lunch, we walked around the city, talked, laughed, cried, drank too much wine, took so many drunk selfies, called our parents, cried and laughed some more… It was honestly one of the best days of my entire life, and one of those moments that I wish I could press replay on forever. AND, if all of that wasn’t enough… Nathan surprised me with an engagement dinner with all of my best friends in the city, at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, in my old neighborhood (Upper East Side), steps from my old apartment…The night was absolutely PERFECT, and my heart felt as though it might explode at any second. I honestly could have died there, and been happy. This man is absolute gold.💛
P.S. I’ll be sharing a recap of this afternoon on the blog soon, and will also be including some of our favorite spots that we visited in the city during our trip! ✨
To Nathan:
I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to get to share my life with you. Thank you for loving me the way that you do, and for always thinking of ways to surprise me. I can’t wait to spend forever with you. I can’t wait to be your wife.❤️
photography by Laurel Creative & proposal by Nathan Sutlief. xo
WEARING: Shopbop Lulu Polka Dot Dress | Tuckernuck Kaitlin Earrings | Jeffrey Campbell Boots (Similar Here, Here, & Here) | Tuckernuck Tortoise Clutch
